90th child found from 'dirty war'

[AlphaCentauri]

A 27-YEAR-OLD woman today became the 90th person to find out she was a victim of kidnapping during Argentina's notorious "dirty war" (1976-1983), a rights group said.

Laura Ruiz Dameri was matched by DNA testing to her biological parents, Silvia Dameri and Orlando Ruiz, who were kidnapped and killed as members of the leftist Montoneros by the military dictatorship ruling Argentina at the time, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo said.

The group said Ms Dameri was the 90th person to discover her past, out of an estimated 500 children who were abducted during that time.

Ms Dameri was born in captivity and turned over to adoption to coast guard officer Antonio Azic. Her two older siblings, Marcelo and Maria, also separated from their parents, were found in 1989 and 2000 living in two different cities.

"The case of the Ruiz Dameri family is perhaps one of the most emblematic of Argentina's missing, because the three children were deliberately removed to different parts of the country to prevent the family from reuniting ever again,"

"For some time, we Grandmothers suspected Laura was the sister Marcelo and Maria were looking for, but the young woman refused to take a DNA test to determine her identity."

A judge authorised a DNA test using the woman's belongings, leading to a 99.9 per cent match with the murdered couple, the rights group said.

Antonio Azic has been charged with kidnapping not only Laura Ruiz Dameri but also Victoria Donda, a current member of Congress who was also born in captivity and found out her real identity in 2004.

Under the pretext of fighting a so-called "dirty war" against leftist insurgents, military leaders in Argentina from 1976 to 1983 were responsible for the disappearance of some 30,000 people.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23776534-23109,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. That's how much the U.S.-supported right-wing dictatorships respected democracy. They tortured and

KILLED all the leftists they could find all over the continent, and drove surviving dissenters into hiding, unwilling to share their fate.